Easy Homemade Spicy Sweet and Sour Shrimp

This recipe for Spicy Sweet and Sour Shrimp is not overly sweet, nor sour, nor spicy, but is a perfect combination of the three. The light coating of rice flour or cornstarch gives it a nice crunch, just like in your favorite Chinese restaurant, but without all the fat. Simple to prepare, delicious to eat.

Sweet and Sour Whatever You Want

As a kid, I was all about sweet and sour dishes at Chinese restaurants. Sweet and sour pork, chicken—you name it. What’s not to love, right? Crispy, deep-fried chunks of meat (well, mostly coating), swimming in an ultra-sweet sauce that barely hinted at sour. Throw in some overcooked bell peppers and a few pineapple chunks, and I was in heaven.

But as an adult? Not so much. My tastes have shifted—I want balance, brightness, and a little heat. That’s exactly what this recipe delivers: lightly coated shrimp, perfectly crisp-tender veggies, and a sauce that’s just the right mix of sweet, tangy, and spicy. Oh, and a touch of pineapple for that nostalgic finish, but in a way that lets every ingredient shine. Ready to level up sweet and sour?

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Shrimp – The size is totally up to you. I went with 21-30 per pound, considered jumbo shrimp, but smaller or larger shrimp work just as well. While the recipe calls for 1 pound, I like to count how many shrimp each person will likely eat and cook just enough since shrimp doesn’t reheat well. Not a fan of shrimp or dealing with a shellfish allergy? No problem—chicken breast or pork tenderloin make great substitutes!
• Rice Flour or Cornstarch – Coating the shrimp isn’t essential, but I love the light, crispy crunch it adds. I used rice flour, a superfine, gluten-free flour you can find in many stores. I grabbed mine at a local Hispanic market, but it’s also widely available in Asian grocery stores. If you can’t find it, you can make your own by grinding rice into a fine powder—or take the easy route and substitute with cornstarch. It works just as well for that delicate, crunchy coating!
• Bell Peppers - Use green (traditional), red, yellow, or orange. Or a combination of any or all of them.
• Onion – I stick with the trusty kitchen staple, a Bermuda yellow onion, but feel free to use sweeter varieties like Walla Walla, Maui, or Vidalia for a milder, sweeter flavor.
• Pineapple Chunks - Canned or fresh. If using canned you have the pineapple juice you need right there in the can, otherwise, you will need to buy some canned pineapple juice to make the sauce.
• The sauce ingredients - More on this later, but really it's a nice combo of ketchup, pineapple juice, brown sugar, chili garlic sauce, and red pepper flakes.

Do I have to use Shrimp?

No, as a matter of fact, this dish is as delicious using either chicken breast or pork tenderloin which turns it into Spicy Sweet and Sour Chicken or Spicy Sweet and Sour Pork. The general directions are going to stay the same, the only difference being the time it takes to cook your protein. I suppose you could even use Tofu, using the method for removing moisture as I do in Ma Po Tofu.

Do I have to coat the shrimp?

Again, you don't have to, but I enjoy the crunch the coating gives. More like the traditional sweet and sour dishes you might find in a Chinese Restaurant. The nice part of this is the coating is so thin and light it just adds crunch without adding a lot of calories or fat.

How to make Spicy Sweet and Sour Shrimp

• If making with shrimp, be sure they are cleaned and deveined. For ease of eating, remove the tail as well.
• If made with chicken breast or pork tenderloin, cut into bite-sized pieces.

Put the flour or cornstarch in a plastic bag, add the shrimp, and shake shake shake.

Should I use a skillet or a Wok for this recipe?

I actually prefer a skillet for this dish so I can lay my shrimps around and only turn them once, keeping the coating on them. If you stir-fry them in a wok, chances are the coating will come off.

How to cook Shrimp to perfection

To ensure the shrimp are all cooked to perfection, I use the "clock method" of adding foods to a skillet. Heat your skillet or wok to medium-high heat. Add some oil and once that is hot, start adding your shrimp. Starting at 12:00 and going around the pan until the sides are all full, then moving into the center. Once all the shrimp are in the skillet, immediately start turning them over from the 12:00 position until they all are turned, then remove them in the same order. Shrimp don't take very long to cook, and you don't want to overcook them or they turn rubbery. Rubbery shrimp is not good eats. Better a little undercooked at this point, as you will be heating them up in the sauce later and can certainly finish them there.

Use the same method for either chicken breast or pork tenderloin.

Shrimp, perfectly cooked.

Once all the shrimp are cooked, remove them to some paper towels or a rack to drain and set aside.

The Veggies in Spicy Sweet and Sour Shrimp

Pretty basic stuff here. Peppers, onions, pineapple.

This time I used baby bells, or baby peppers as they are called because I had them in the refrigerator.

What's the difference between bell peppers and sweet baby bells?

Well, a couple of things. First off the baby bells are sweeter, with a less vegetative taste to them. Second, baby bells have thinner skin than their big brother (sister?) counterparts. Because of that, I find I don't need to cook them as long so they can be more crisp-tender while remaining sweet.

For the onion, just your basic yellow onion. As I said, you could use a sweet onion, but I like the acidity a yellow onion adds.

The pineapple is Dole chucks in pineapple juice. I cut them in halves so they aren't quite as intrusive for each bite. But if you love big pieces of pineapple, leave them whole. I use canned, rather than fresh, since it's cooking anyway, fresh would get soft, and I need the juice from the can for the sauce. Should you decide to use fresh pineapple, feel free. Just buy a can of pineapple juice for the sauce.

After wiping out the pan, add a little oil along with the onions, saute for a few minutes then add the peppers if using baby bells, If using regular bell pepper, add them at the same time as the onion. Only about 2 minutes to cook the baby bells crisp-tender. Add your pineapple pieces along with the sauce and cooked shrimp pieces.

The Sauce

The sauce is where I did the most work.

I didn't want the sauce to be too sweet. I didn't want the sauce to be too sour. And I wanted some heat, but for it not to be overpowering. With some experimentation, I think I hit on the perfect combination of flavor.

The ying and yang.

Vinegar is important. Apple cider vinegar is the perfect choice for this dish. It offers a clean fresh sour element. Rice wine vinegar is too mild, in my humble opinion.

I used brown, rather than granulated, sugar. I find the darker caramel element added a nice roundness.

Ketchup. Ketchup has sweetness, sourness, and of course, adds color. To keep this gluten-free, use gluten-free ketchup.

Pineapple juice. Right from the can. Now that said, my pineapple juice was 100% juice, with no sugar added. If you are using pineapple chunks in a heavy syrup, you have added sugar. You will want to adjust the amount of brown sugar you use - and you've also added high fructose sugar - so I recommend you use 100% juice. Not sweetened juice.

As I said, I wanted a more grown-up sauce. Not the overly sweet sauce of my childhood years. So heat had to be entered into the equation. I started using some garlic chili sauce. And yes, it did add heat, but to get to the level I wanted, it also changed the basic flavors of the sweet/sour sauce. So red pepper flakes to the rescue.

This is where you have total control over how hot or not to make it. I suppose you could use some dried red chilies as they do in Kung-Pao, but then you have to remove those - you don't want to bite into that! But red pepper flakes do the same job, and no removal is necessary.

I think it's pretty perfect...but of course, feel free to adjust. Don't like so much sour? Add less vinegar. Spicier? Add more red pepper flakes. Thicker or thinner? Adjust the amount of cornstarch in your sauce.

It's your recipe. Just give me some credit ...

Try this with some Grilled Sesame Asparagus and Steamed Jasmine or Twice Cooked Brown Rice.